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Video assistant referees are about to get their biggest test to date. In the wake of an earlier general approval, the FIFA Council has authorized the use of VARs at the upcoming 2018 World Cup in Russia. The tool will help refs make decisions on difficult calls involving goals and penalties, any offenses leading up to those moments, mistaken identities and red cards. In theory, at least, this reduces the chances of a country going home early due to a bad call -- a distinct possibility given the messes from the last World Cup.

Twitter hasn't scored a major sports livestreaming deal in a long while, but that drought is over. Variety has learned that the social network has struck a 3-year deal with Major League Soccer that will give it a selection of weekly video, including "at least" 24 live matches. The arrangement will turn Univision's normally Spanish-language broadcasts into English-language streams for Twitter users in the US. The first livestream has already taken place, in fact -- Twitter broadcast a match between Los Angeles FC and Real Salt Lake on March 10th.

With the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia just around the corner, right holders to the event are starting to share more details about their coverage plans. And, to no surprise to anyone, social media will play a major role in that. Fox Sports, FIFA's English-language broadcast partner in the US, is going all out on Twitter this year with a partnership that includes a daily, 30-minute live show from Russia and bringing near-live highlights to the platform. Twitter, which has around 330 million active users, has been ramping up its sports efforts in recent years, and it plans to use the upcoming World Cup to showcase the power (and potential) of its platform. Just yesterday, the company announced a three-year deal with Major League Soccer to stream 24 games per season.

Like it or not, video assistant referees are about to become a mainstay of the beautiful game. The International Football Association Board, which sets rules for FIFA as well as UK associations, has unanimously approved the use of VARs in soccer (aka football) matches on a permanent basis. So long as they go through a "mandatory approval process," they can implement the play review technology if they like. The decision comes after an independent university study showed that VARs had a net positive effect.

YouTube TV has landed another Major League Soccer deal, and this time you might be more likely to notice. As part of a multi-year agreement, the internet TV service is now the official streaming option for all Seattle Sounders FC games. Similar to the LAFC deal, you can watch the 14 nationally televised games on conventional TV networks like ESPN and Fox (including through their online apps), but a dedicated YouTube TV channel will stream the teams' 20 regionally-broadcast games online.

La Liga, Spain's professional football (soccer) league, is home to two of the biggest clubs in the world: Barcelona and Real Madrid. And those teams are each anchored by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, respectively, who are the two biggest players in the sport. While that alone is a reason to keep up with La Liga every season, the league isn't resting on its laurels and is working hard to make the game experience for fans more interactive -- particularly those watching at home. Through a partnership with Intel, La Liga is now letting TV viewers have access to 360-degree replays, thanks to the same True View tech that was recently implemented in the NBA and NFL.

You won't have to wait much longer to see how Netflix handles a soccer (aka football) documentary. The service is premiering the first three episodes of its Juventus FC docuseries, First Team: Juventus, on February 16th. The show will cover the high-ranking Italian team's drama both on and off the pitch, whether it's the individual players or the coaches shouting at the sidelines. The second portion of the series should premiere later in 2018.

There's a new eSports organization in town. In partnership with EA Sports, Major League Soccer is launching eMLS -- an eSports league in which 19 of the 23 MLS clubs will select a competitor to represent them. Those gamers will compete in the eMLS Cup, which will take place during PAX East in April, and the winner will then go on to the FIFA 18 Global Series and have a chance to play in the FIFA eWorld Cup.

When the English Football Association opens the bidding for Premier League broadcasting rights in February, it may see keen interest from a significant but not-so-unexpected source: Amazon. Bloomberg reports that the online retailer is preparing to bid for matches next month, likely providing traditional UK broadcasters Sky and BT with some much-needed competition over the next three years.

Tearing a leaf out of the English Premier League's playbook, the Union of European Football Associations -- better known as UEFA -- has been granted the power to block illegal match streams by the UK's High Court. UEFA won't actually be doing any of the dirty work, of course. Rather, the injunction allows UEFA to instruct the UK's biggest ISPs (BT, Virgin Media, Sky, TalkTalk, EE and Plusnet) to do the blocking on its behalf. Instead of targeting random websites hosting illegal football (yes, we mean soccer) streams, this particular anti-piracy measure stops the signal at the server level, effectively killing the weed at its root.

Amazon is taking an "anything you can do, I can do better" approach to competing with Netflix these days. Just a month after Netflix announced a Juventus FC documentary, Amazon is responding with a Prime Video series covering English Premier League frontrunners Manchester City FC. The original show will offer a peek into the British soccer (aka football) club as it pursues glory in the ongoing 2017/2018 season, including the week-by-week drama of its players, managers and coach Pep Guardiola. The series will be available worldwide when it premieres sometime in 2018.

The German Bundesliga uses it, the American MLS is on board, but never before has the video assistant referee (VAR) system officiated a formal match in the home of football: England. That changes this Friday when England plays Germany at Wembley Stadium in one of several international friendlies ahead of the FIFA World Cup tournament in Russia next year, which itself will adopt replay referees for the first time.

Game developer Sports Interactive has done well at grabbing headlines and getting ahead of the curve to reflect current events. Four months after Brexit, the company announced that Football Manager 2017 would include potential scenarios reflecting player visa issues resulting from the UK leaving the EU. The next edition included something different to better reflect reality: Football Manager 2018 will include gay players, a first for the franchise.

FIFA and Electronic Arts are taking their partnership to the logical conclusion point: the pair will put on the first-ever eWorld Cup next August. Competition starts next month on November 3rd. From the press release:

Sports teams and broadcasters have been going all-in on high-tech initiatives lately. The NFL was an early adopter, with AR features appearing on Fox Sports broadcasts. The NBA just released an augmented reality mobile hoops game, Samsung has put MLB and the UFC on its Gear VR and ESPN is streaming X Games content to VR headsets as well. German soccer team, FC Bayern Munich, is taking its first AR steps, too, with a new feature in its iOS app that brings team captain Manuel Neuer or forward Arjen Robben into your iPhone for celebrity selfies.

We live in a time when even the most conventional things around us, like balls to play sports, are becoming smart in some way. Over the past few years, brands such as Adidas and Wilson have introduced sensor-laden balls designed to track performance data, including shot accuracy and trajectory. But those products have been far from perfect: they're not always precise and, in the case of Adidas' miCoach Smart Ball, having to charge it is a tedious process. Here's where DribbleUp, a startup based in Brooklyn, hopes to shine with its new app-enabled soccer ball.

When FIFA 17 came out last year, its standout feature was something called "The Journey." For the first time in the franchise's 24-year history, EA Sports added a story mode where you can pretend to live the life of a professional soccer (er, football) player. The plot centered around a fictional character named Alex Hunter, a British teenager who's trying to make a name for himself in the English Premier League. Your goal, naturally, is to guide him in his quest to do exactly that. Thanks to its success on FIFA 17, the adventure continues withFIFA 18's "The Journey: Hunter Returns."

With VR going mainstream, families are going to be looking for titles that won't give their kids nightmares. One of the best of those, Headmaster, has only been available on Sony's PlayStation VR until now, but today it arrives to the Oculus Rift and SteamVR in a surprise launch. Described by the developer Frame Interactive as the "bizarre love child of Wii Sports and Portal," it simulates soccer heading (football, if you like) in a surreal, carnival-like "Football Improvement Center."

MLS began using video assistant referees (VAR) earlier this month, and when the top German league began its season today, it too employed the tech. Bundesliga announced back in January that it would use the video review tech during the 2017-18 season and now the system has made its debut on the pitch. The league says that all 23 referees from last season will serve as video officials to assist those calling the action up close on critical decisions, including three who retired following the 2016-17 campaign.

Twitter has recently been the forum of choice for many weird, wannabe-viral transfer announcements, but BT will soon be taking to the social network for more serious football coverage. Just as we start digging our teeth into the new Premier League season, BT Sport will begin livestreaming its news, analysis and footy results show "Score" on Twitter for any Brit to watch for free.

Not to be outdone by ESPN, Turner Broadcasting has announced a sports streaming service of its own next year. And to start, it's partnering with UEFA on a three-year deal to stream Champions and Europa League games beginning with the 2018 - 2019 season. That'll cover some 340 matches, according to a statement from Turner. In addition to streaming, games will be broadcast across the media group's TV channels including TBS, TNT "and/or" truTV beginning next year. Not a soccer fan? Turner says it'll offer other sports as well.

Until two years ago, there was no way to play female characters in FIFA, the world's most popular gaming franchise. But EA Sports changed that with the introduction of FIFA 16. That's because, for the first time ever, the studio revealed its flagship game would feature women soccer players. It was a great move toward diversifying the game's plot, albeit a risky one considering its core demographic: young men. That doesn't mean FIFA players aren't open-minded. But in an industry with a reputation for being misogynistic, EA Sports made itself vulnerable to potential backlash. It turns out the company needn't have worried: FIFA 16 quickly became one of the best-selling titles of the year.

Football. Soccer. Calcio. Futbol. Fußball. Whatever you call it, the world's favourite game continues to grow in terms of players, viewership and, of course, money. Just last week, Brazilian forward Neymar sealed a whopping €222 million ($263 million) move to France after Paris St Germain triggered the former Barcelona player's release clause. With so much cash at their disposal, teams are coming up with more and more elaborate ways to broadcast the news of their new signing. Take Premier League strugglers Watford, who decided to use the popular Football Manager video game to announce their new record signing.

When Sky surprised subscribers with the launch of its new Devialet-made surround sound speaker late last month, it also dropped in news that Sky Q customers would soon enjoy enhanced sound courtesy of Dolby Atmos. At the time, the company remained coy, teasing a "summer" launch, but with the new Premier League season imminent, Sky today confirmed that Dolby's surround sound standard will now be ready for when Arsenal host Leicester tomorrow night.